Hello all. This will be used for discussing Lord of the Rings Online. Do you play it? Tell us about your adventures!

Currently level 37 and just finished the Twisted Heart instance in Evendim. Very cool instance, highly recommend you guys check it out. The quest chain begins in the Eavespires. About to finish up some loose ends and head back to the Trollshaws for some Rivendell questing. Fun!!!

Fluent

April 2nd, 2013 03:20

Todd, do you use Supersampling? I have it set to 4x and the game looks even better. Only problem, the performance takes a hit. I'm down to the mid 40's in FPS and sometimes it dips to high 30s. Not quite as smooth as I'd like. If I set it to 2x it looks nice and performs beautifully with FPS over 60. Just curious if you're using that setting. It can be found in your GPU control panel.

ToddMcF2002

April 2nd, 2013 04:18

I do everything in app, so no I haven't messed with it. I've been raiding the last few days in Moria so I'm trying to keep it smooth. There is a lot going on during those. BTW did you check out the rep trader in Evendim?

DArtagnan

April 2nd, 2013 10:43

I used to play it and I have a lifetime subscription. I love a lot of things about it - but I can't stand just as many.

But I think it's definitely one of the strongest MMOs on the market. At least it used to be before the cash shop infestation.

Fluent

April 2nd, 2013 13:01

I actually like the cash shop. I think it's a nice addition. I mean, it just gives the player more options, which is always a good thing. I have made a few purchases from it already and plan to use it more in the future.

Todd, I checked out a little of the rep traders in Evendim, but not fully. I did a bunch of quests to get some silver coins to barter with them, so when I'm back on I'm going to go there and see what I can purchase. Is there something great there? I saw a bunch of jewelry and armor and stuff. Is there something else I'm missing?

Oh, and it was extremely easy to gain rep in Evendim. I became a friend to the Wardens without even using any rep items or anything, just by doing quests. I guess that is part of their revamp. I was literally shocked that I gained friend status so quickly.

ToddMcF2002

April 2nd, 2013 15:46

Armor sets. I wore that gear for 15 levels before finding something only marginally better in Moria. Of course that was Heavy Armor, you'll need to see what the have for the Hunter but I suspect good stuff. These are Kindred (purple text) sets so you need to kill Angmar soldiers for their +700 rep rings or something equivalent. Another great set is the Fem gear in Angmar but that's a long quest series and it sounds like off path for you. The Council of the North in Angmar has a Kindred Archers set including bow. I heard this from a raven…

Fluent

April 2nd, 2013 16:36

Oh yeah, I did see a very nice armor set there as a matter of fact. That was one of the things I was interested in. Very nice indeed.

Fluent

April 3rd, 2013 04:18

I didn't notice that the armor sets were Kindred. I did notice that they were expensive in terms of silver arnorian coins, so I wasn't able to scoop any up. I'm thinking about going back and doing more quests for coins, or possibly hitting the auction house for them, if I can.

Loving the Trollshaws, though. Once you get the lay of the land it becomes easier to navigate. The questing in Rivendell is phenomenal. Did Bilbo's riddle quests and a few others, and they are very well done. Also did some Misty Mountains questing, really like that place so far, the little I've seen of it. I'll probably spend some time up there.

Didn't 100% Evendim or anything. Couldn't wait to get back to Rivendell, lol. I love that place. I did do the quest for the Silithar though, that was a doozy. Took 5 of us, heavily armored to run through that one. The fellowship almost died at one point too, as a few members left midway through, so it was rough, but somehow we pulled through. That instance was remarkable, though. I'm glad to see the challenge ramping up a bit the further I go in the game.

ToddMcF2002

April 3rd, 2013 10:11

I hear you on the dying. We had a full whipe today on the Grand Stair. Someone killed a Devoted which distracted us and Igash pummeled our healer. Once that happened a whipe was in the works.

I tried to take some action shots of The Grand Stair and Filikul (aka Turtle). Hitting N+F12+F11+F12+N while trying to tank and hold aggro is a bit touchy :) These screenshots don't reflect scale well at all. But look at my size next to the Turtles leg…

We has one unnecessary casualty when someone randomly jumped right off a bridge. Gravity in Moria is frequently lethal. I almost bought it to a troll punt myself. Landed literally right on the edge.

Crafting is good in LOTRO, probably better than in any other extant MMO although it can be a bit of a grind too, especially as you get to high levels. But, you can make stuff that has some value, unlike say GW2. I even enjoyed farming sometimes, can be kind of relaxing, farming in the Shire.

The Laurelin EU RP server I played on had the best community in any MMO game I've played by a big margin. It did deteriorate somewhat with the cash shop, but not too badly. Not sure what's happened now that those guys on the other side of the pond can play on it.

Fluent

April 3rd, 2013 17:16

Hey Roq, thanks for joining our discussion! And I agree, crafting is done very well in LOTRO and farming is actually fun sometimes! There have been a few times where I've enjoyed farming pelts while exploring around for ore and wood. I definitely enjoy the crafting system a whole bunch.

Calindorr, those pics are cool. We fought a turtle of similar size I believe at the end of Elendil's tomb. Thankfully we had a level 73 and some level 50 guys in the mix, so it wasn't too tough, but before they came we were dying before even getting to the end. It was only a level 40 fellowship quest but it was rough.

Fluent

April 4th, 2013 17:07

Well, after a few days of grinding, it's official. I am now Kindred status with the Elves of Rivendell :D. This is big for me, since I love Rivendell and the Trollshaws, lol.

I'm completely decked out in elf swag. Got my fine elven quiver on my back, elven light helm, the elven tunic and trousers cosmetic item from the rep trader, a prized Rivendell steed from Lord Elrond's stables, 3 statues of famous elves in the front yard of my house (Gil-Galad, Luthien, Celebrimbor), an elven map table in the middle of my room and my house plays the Rivendell theme. I really like LOTR elves, lol.

Next stop, Misty Mountains and then eventually Moria. It will be cool to get some dwarf swag too. I wouldn't mind some dwarven furniture in my house. It's funny how you can find joy in the little things in this game, such as cosmetic items or house decorations or whatever. They did a good job immersing you in this world to make you care about those types of things.

ToddMcF2002

April 4th, 2013 19:25

Awesome. Looking forward to seeing your gear. Moria continues to amaze. We ran a 3 man through Moria's Mirror Halls of Lumul-mar for the Lothlorien Tokens. We got wiped repeatedly by the 2nd boss until our equipment was in shambles. 600 silver to repair! What a blast though. It was hilarious to see each one of us do something dumb to cause the wipe. Totally humiliating :). BTW I ended up enlisting help for the Book skirmishes and let me tell you… Good thing I did. You won't believe what this game will throw at you! I'm digging skirmishes now and discovered I can barter Marks for Legendary item xp runes without leveling my Guardian. I may be doing that for a few days…

Fluent

April 4th, 2013 20:08

Nice! Moria sounds like fun.

You can also upgrade your skirmish soldier with marks and medallions. Good insurance for tougher skirmishes I suppose. I haven't gone far with them, though. Just did a few tutorial ones and that's about it. There's so much content in the game it's hard to do everything!

ToddMcF2002

April 5th, 2013 07:29

I did the Ford of Bruinen skirmish set at level 62 (my level). I had to do it twice - the first time I let one of Elronds sons die… whoops. What a blast it was! I leveled up my warrior fodder guy a bit and he is now semi useful. I didn't think I'd like skirmishes but I was wrong. Try Bruinen, I'm sure the Instance Finder will set it to level 41. So much fun ;)

Fluent

April 5th, 2013 16:28

I'll try that skirmish today. Thing is, I've been leveling way too fast I think, so I try to stay away from skirmishes and redoing instances and that sort of thing. I'm going to purchase the XP Disabler today also which is on sale for 50% off. That way on things like skirmishing, crafting, group instances, etc, I can turn XP gain off so I don't outlevel everything so quickly.

Wish I knew about this earlier though. I'd probably still be in Lone Lands finishing everything I could find :)

Edit - Just did the Bruinen Ford instance. Wow, that was awesome! Very intense. Elrohir nearly died at the end but I managed to draw the aggro from him just in time. Great instance. I played it half with XP disabled and half with XP. Got a ton of XP from it just from half the battle! Upgraded my warrior dude and also bartered for a new bow and sword. Fun stuff!

ToddMcF2002

April 6th, 2013 02:30

I love watching the baddies jump off the platform. I have a shield taunt where I bash my sword on the shield to build Threat and grab aggro. It's perfect for these defensive stands. "Let them come!" As Theoden would say. I love it. I think I'm going to invest in the XP Disabled as well as long as I can still build Legendary Item XP? Of course even if LI XP is disabled we still get Marks, which you can buy so many goodies with, including Runes of Legendary Item XP so its all good. Bottom Line is I don't want to not do this fun stuff either!

Fluent

April 6th, 2013 03:37

Just did another INSANE skirmish. 6 of us, Gondamon. That was freakin' awesome! Monsters of all types that I've never seen before came out in that one, and it was a blast.

XP Disabler is a godsend for me. I turn it on and off at different times depending on my mood. Bottom line is, it slows the game down a bit. How slow is up to you. You can wear it for long periods of time or just equip it for an instance or half an instance or whatever. Very cool! And it only disables monster kill XP and quest completion XP. You can still level your legendaries with it enabled. Highly recommended if you don't like out-leveling content and it's less than 300 TP on sale right now.

ToddMcF2002

April 6th, 2013 05:01

I've heard that's the best one. Grats on completing it. I'll have to try this ASAP.

ToddMcF2002

April 6th, 2013 17:47

Running disabled now. The only negative is losing the pocket slot. Item XP is still on :)